Referring now to FIG. 1, a typical wireless network 10 is shown. The wireless network 10 includes an access point 12, a plurality of wireless nodes 14-1, 14-2, . . . , and 14-n, and an external network 18. A communications link 20 connects the access point 12 to the external network 18. In the wireless network 10, the wireless nodes 14 communicate with each other and/or with the external network 18 through the access point 12.
For example, when the node 14-1 wants to communicate with the node 14-2, the node 14-1 sends a message to the access point 12. The access point 12 retransmits the message to the node 14-2. The node 14-2 sends a response to the access point 12, which retransmits the response to the node 14-1.
The access point 12 maintains a table including a current list of nodes 14 that are operating in the wireless network 10. The table also includes media access control (MAC) and Internet protocol (IP) addresses and an active/inactive status of each node 14. The access point 12 transmits the table to the nodes 14 when new nodes 14 are added or when other changes to the table occur. All of the nodes 14 are located relative to the access point 12 to allow communications with the access point 12. As described above, the nodes 14 of the wireless network 10 do not directly communicate with other nodes 14. In other words, the packet transmitted by a node must be retransmitted by the access point, which ineffectively uses available bandwidth and reduces throughput.